office of the provost academic program review

FROM DATA AND ANALYSIS TO ACTION

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Office of the ProvostAcademic Program Review

Participants in the APR Conversation

Karin Wurst Dean, College of Arts and Letters

Thomas Berding Chair, Art and Art History

JR Haywood Chair, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Resource People

Linda Stanford Associate Provost for Academic Services

Kelly Funk Director, Academic Assessment, Program Review, and Accreditation

Mary Black Director, Institutional Studies

Rene Stewart O’Neal Director, University Planning

Karen Klomparens Associate Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School

Douglas Estry Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Undergraduate Studies

Origin and Purpose of APR

Originated with Academic Governance

Align the APR and the self study process with: Annual college planning process Curricular change Accreditation Assessment of student learning

Assist the unit in improving

Assist dean in advancing the college

The Self Study

Aligned around six key questions

Focused on data, analysis, and action

Limited to 12-15 pages

The self study is not a narrative description. It is a thoughtful analysis of the most important issues facing a

unit.

The Six Key Questions

1. What do we do?

2. Why do we do it?

3. How well do we do it and who thinks so?

4. What difference would it make whether we did it or not?

5. Given our present status, how do we intend to change in ways that help us advance?

6. How will we evaluate our future progress and successes?

What do we do?

● Provides context and framework for the document

● Draws connections to other processes

Planning

Curriculum

Accreditation

1

Why do we do it?

● Focuses on goals and priorities

● Defines role within discipline, college, institution

● Analyzes change over time and how mission aligns with actual responsibilities

2

How well do we do it and who thinks so?

● Data-driven analysis of strengths and challenges

● External statements of quality provided within a context (Why the statements are important)

● Assessment of student learning outcomes

3

What difference does it make whether we do it or not?

● Intellectual and scholarly value of the unit and the implications for the college and university

● Contributions the unit makes to support institutional initiatives

4

Given our present status, how do we intend to change in ways that help us

advance?

● Interpretation of data as the basis for analysis of preceding discussion

● Framed in terms of unit priorities as they relate to college and institutional priorities

5

How will we evaluate our future progress and success?

● Provides framework for the action plan

● Measureable priorities clearly aligned with college and university metrics

● Inclusion of incremental steps and a timeline to shape realistic goals

6

The Unit’s Perspective

Approaching the self study: faculty involvement

What worked? What didn’t work?

Answering the six questions

Using data

Using the self study results (How does the self study help?)

The Dean’s Perspective

How the self study is used

How the six questions are helpful

How a self study is most useful to the dean

What units should avoid doing

Office of Planning and Budgets

The Graduate School

Outreach and Engagement

Office of the Registrar

Data: Where it lives and how to find it

Everything Else You Might Want to Know

Go to MSU home page and type in APR. Gives you: Calendar and timeline for self study Guidance on student learning outcomes Outside review procedures Narrative explanation of questions Data sources and who to contact Documents implementing APR process

http://www.esp.msu.edu/APR.asp

http://www.esp.msu.edu/APR.asp

Resource People

Linda Stanford stanford@msu.edu, 5-5767

Kelly Funk funkk@msu.edu, 3-0661

Mary Black blackm@msu.edu, 3-6463

Rene Stewart-O’Neal rsoneal@msu.edu

Julie Harrison harris24@msu.edu, 5-5767